In March 2024, HERON attended Airspace World, the largest and most influential airspace and near-space management event, held in Geneva, Switzerland from March 19th to 21st. This industry event provided a valuable platform to showcase advancements in environmentally friendly air traffic management. In the event, HERON took part into the SESAR Walking Tours organised by SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking, with two presentations about advancements in environmentally friendly flight operations.

On March 19, Patrick Boulet, from the French Air Navigation Service Provider Direction des Services de la navigation aérienne (DSNA) presented a session titled “Fuel efficiency and the art of adaptation”. The presentation focused on a series of use cases to illustrate how the introduction of optimised air traffic management operations and new technologies can mitigate aviation’s environmental footprint and reduce fuel consumption and emissions. With a live demonstration, he showcased how integrating ADS-C/EPP (Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Contract/Extended Projected Profile) can improve trajectory data exchange between air and ground.

In addition, Airspace World attendees also had the opportunity to attend the session titled “ADS-C/EPP and the tale of trajectory transformation” presented by Peter Lubrani from the European Satellite Service Provider (ESSP-SAS). This session, also part of the SESAR Walking Tours, delved deeper into the technical aspects of ADS-C/EPP and its role in transforming flight trajectories.

Visitors to the ESSP booth also learned about the ADSCENSIO project, a completed very large-scale demonstration that assessed and developed the ADS-C common service solution in real-world operational environments. The presentation then transitioned to how the HERON project is building on this foundation to further develop ADS-C common services.

HERON’s participation offered attendees the opportunity to learn about how optimized air traffic management and innovative technologies can contribute to a greener future for aviation. The project highlighted its work on ADS-C Common Services, a key technology facilitating improved trajectory data exchange and ultimately reducing fuel consumption.

By participating in Airspace World, HERON aimed to share its progress and collaborate with industry leaders to accelerate the adoption of sustainable aviation solutions.